Motor training of upper extremity with functional electrical stimulation in early stroke rehabilitation.

Background: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) allows active exercises in stroke patients with upper extremity paralysis.

Objective: To investigate the effect of motor training with FES on motor recovery in acute and subacute stroke patients with severe to complete arm and/or hand paralysis.

Methods: For this pilot study, 23 acute and subacute stroke patients were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 12) and control group (n = 11).

Efficacy of motor imagery in post-stroke rehabilitation: a systematic review.

Background: Evaluation of how Motor Imagery and conventional therapy (physiotherapy or occupational therapy) compare to conventional therapy only in their effects on clinically relevant outcomes during rehabilitation of persons with stroke.

Design: Systematic review of the literature

Methods: We conducted an electronic database search in seven databases in August 2005 and also hand-searched the bibliographies of studies that we selected for the review. Two reviewers independently screened and selected all randomized controlled trials that compare the effects of conventional therapy plus Motor Imagery to those of only conventional therapy on stroke patients.